A Boston College sports blog capturing the highs and lows of being a BC fan living 1,000 miles from Chestnut Hill.

Sunday, February 12, 2012

Heartbreaker in Blacksburg

When ESPNU splashed BC's record in games decided by four points or less, I knew we were in trouble. There's a lot of luck involved in winning close games and after going 4-1 in close games so far this season, you had to think things would turn a bit. And it did as VT beat BC with a putback in the final seconds. To add to the frustration, BC played really well offensively. The ball movement and the shooting were the best its been. Defense is where things fell apart. Here are my thoughts. Leave yours in the comments.

Likes-- Anderson's low-post move. As they mentioned repeatedly in the broadcast, Anderson did it with his left and his right. He hit short jumpers and hook shots. He was very good.-- Clifford finishing close to the basket. In a perfect world, that is how the offense should run. Plenty of space so that the penetrator can find the big man close to the basket.-- Humphrey's defense. He's got a good sense of timing and made them pay for their sloppy passes. He also is a good help defender.-- The ball movement. This time the passing had purpose. They also did a great job of finding the open man in transition or Lonnie Jackson waiting on the 3-point line.

Dislikes-- Defensive rebounding. I know Donahue doesn't put an emphasis on offensive rebounds, preferring good transition defense in return.But sometimes that might be a detriment on defense. We allowed too many second-chance points, including the last possession. We probably could have used some more minutes from Caudill.-- The missed opportunities late. A turnover and missed foul shot really changed the game. As did fouling them. It sucks, but I am chalking it up to the team being young.

This was a tough loss because the team played well. Now if they improved defensively like they have offensively, the final few weeks will be fun.

6 Comments:

Although not nearly as meaningful, this game reminded me of the loss to Villanova in the '06 tourney...just a total punch in the gut in the last second. Well, this one was a punch in the gut, the Nova game was more like getting my heart ripped out.

And while the team has grown immensely and looked really good on offense today (and D at times too), let's call a spade a spade....that was a total choke in the final minute and a half. Foul, turnover, o-reb, o-reb, foul, missed free throw, o-reb, game. 7 mistakes in the final 1:30 completely marred great work in the previous 38:30. Ugh.

Yes, heartbreaker defined it well. But these "kids" played with a lot of heart and soul throughout, you could see in their eyes that this was all just a test for future success. Nice group of players who have their sights set on future success. I like what I saw. The students need to show up for the last few home games and give these guys some love. As much as I can't stand GDF, Donohue was a good find.

The improvement since the beginning of the season is really remarkable. Donahue is doing an amazing job. Now, if they could just learn to box out. When a shot goes up, they're all just looking for the ball, no one looks for a body. The winning tip was possible because none of the four BC players under the hoop put a body on the one VT player coming to the rim. In fact, Jackson actually got out of his way -- not intentionally, but because he just wasn't conditioned to think box out first.

BC really played well. jackson and daniels have improved immensely from the start of the season. guard play has gone from a negative to a positive. they are hitting their shots, moving the ball well. they both have a tendency to pick up their dribble too early, but overally they have both really picked up the slack. (moton as the backup has also improved as the season has gone on).

one area of concern is the front court. clifford and anderson both need to put on muscle/weight this offseason. that being said, it worries me that the 2 recruits for next year are guards, and the players we are still targeting are between 6'1 and 6'4. so our front line next year is almost certainly going to be clifford, anderson, and caudill (who, unlike everyone else, hasn't seemed to get better as the year goes on). i just worry that we will lose a lot of rebounding battles, especially given how much we shoot the ball. also, anderson can play either forward spot, so he could play at the 3 and have a big guy play at PF next to clifford.

hopefully we can add some more size, otherwise its really going to be on clifford, anderson, and caudill to make big time physical improvements before next season.

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